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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubertus Strughold | 3/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertus_Strughold | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:12:16.885692+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Work for the United States === In October 1945 Strughold returned to academia, becoming director of the Physiological Institute at Heidelberg University. He also began working on behalf of the US Army Air Force, becoming Chief Scientist of its Aeromedical Center, which was located on the campus of the former Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research. In this capacity Strughold edited German Aviation Medicine in World War II, a book-length summary of the knowledge gained by German aviation researchers during the war. In August 1947 Strughold was brought to the United States, along with many other highly valuable German scientists, as part of Operation Paperclip. Along with another former Luftwaffe physician, Richard Lindenberg, Strughold was assigned to the US Air Force base at Randolph Field near San Antonio, Texas. It was while at Randolph Field that Strughold began conducting some of the first research into the potential medical challenges posed by space travel, in conjunction with fellow "Paperclip Scientist" Dr. Heinz Haber. Strughold coined the terms "space medicine" and "astrobiology" to describe this area of study in 1948. The following year he was appointed as the first and only Professor of Space Medicine at the US Air Force's newly established School of Aviation Medicine (SAM) by the institution's commandant, Colonel Harry G. Armstrong. SAM would become one of the first medical establishments dedicated to conducting research on "astrobiology" and the so-called "human factors" associated with crewed spaceflight. Strughold also first described "Mars jars", containers that simulate the atmosphere of Mars, that have now become an essential tool in astrobiological research. Under Strughold, the School of Aviation Medicine conducted pioneering studies on issues such as atmospheric control, the physical effects of weightlessness and the disruption of normal time cycles. In 1951 Strughold revolutionized existing notions concerning spaceflight when he co-authored the influential research paper Where Does Space Begin? in which he proposed that space was present in small gradations that grew as altitude levels increased, rather than existing in remote regions of the atmosphere. Between 1952 and 1954 he would oversee the building of the space cabin simulator, a sealed chamber in which human test subjects were placed for extended periods of time in order to view the potential physical, biological and psychological effects of extra-atmospheric flight. Strughold obtained US citizenship in July 1956 and the following year was named Adviser for Research to the newly-established Aerospace Medical Center at Brooks Air Force Base and would later take over as Chairman of the Center's Advanced Studies Group in 1960. He was next appointed Chief Scientist of the Aerospace Medical Division (AMD) of US Air Force Systems Command in February 1962. In this capacity, Strughold worked closely with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) where he was responsible for supervising all aerospace medicine research being conducted by the US Air Force in support of the national space program. During his collaboration with NASA, Strughold played a central role in designing the pressure suit and onboard life support systems used by both the Gemini and Apollo astronauts. He also directed the training of the flight surgeons and medical staff of the Apollo program in advance of the planned mission to the Moon. Strughold retired from his position with the US Air Force in 1968 but continued to serve as an honorary consultant to the AMD.
== Later life and controversy ==
In March 1971, Strughold married Mary Webb Delahite (née Mary Cecilia Houston Webb), who was 16 years his junior and whom he had met in 1959 at a mutual friend's birthday party. Mary had three adult daughters from her first marriage. In 1983 he was awarded the Federal Order of Merit by the government of West Germany and the Texas State Senate declared June 15 "Hubertus Strughold Day" in his honor in 1985. Strughold died at his ranch outside of San Antonio on September 25, 1986, at the age of 88. During his work on behalf of the US Air Force and NASA, Strughold was the subject of three separate US government investigations into his suspected involvement in war crimes committed under the Nazis. A 1958 investigation by the Justice Department turned up no derogatory information and fully exonerated Strughold, while a second inquiry launched by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1974 was later abandoned citing a lack of evidence. In 1983 the Office of Special Investigations reopened his case but withdrew from the effort following Strughold's death. After his death, Strughold's alleged connection to the Dachau experiments became more widely known following the release of US Army Intelligence documents from 1945 that listed him among those being sought as war criminals by US authorities. These revelations did significant damage to Strughold's reputation and resulted in the revocation of various honors that had been bestowed upon him over the course of his career. In 1993, at the request of the World Jewish Congress, his portrait was removed from a mural of prominent physicians displayed at Ohio State University. Following similar protests by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Air Force decided in 1995 to rename the Hubertus Strughold Aeromedical Library at Brooks Air Force Base, which had been named in Strughold's honor in 1977. His portrait, however, still hangs there. Further action by the ADL also led to Strughold's removal from the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico in May 2006.